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Saturday, December 8, 2007

Day 7: Alfajores

Okay let's brush those sbrisolona crumbs off the sides of our mouth and hop on a plane from Italy to Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil or Chile (whichever country you prefer, maybe somewhere warm). The delectable alfajor, a sandwich cookie made with buttery biscuits filled a layer of dulce de leche, is a very popular snack in all of these South American countries. The cookies can be dusted with some powdered sugar or covered with chocolate. I dunno about you but anything with dulce de leche has my full, undivided attention. And yes these are as delicious as they sound.

Dulce de leche is very easy to make at home. You can either start with whole milk and use Pim's recipe or start with a can of sweetened condensed milk. I chose to with go the condensed milk route but I was scared to death of the whole "can may explode" warnings because hey if it can happen, it will probably happen to me. I envisioned a loud bang and hot goo covered can shrapnel flying every which way. So better play it safe. Luckily, I found an explosion-free way to make dulce de leche using a double boiler.

Explosion-Free Stovetop Dulce de LechePour the can of condensed milk in the top part of the double boiler and simmer for a few hours, stirring occasionally until the DDL is the color and thickness you like. At the end of cooking mine was almost solid. Steven turned the pan upside down and marveled that it barely moved at all.

Clabber Girl makes a very good pre-made dulce de leche. I've been using it for a couple of years. It's available at the grocery or I think it can be mail-ordered. That way, no explosions - and it has a good consistency. Happy holidays!

I'm posting about how to make dulce de leche from scratch (not from canned condensed milk) later tomorrow...check it out! It's amazing how close it tastes to what I had in Argentina! Sweet sweet nectar of the gods!

I love alfajores! I always eat so much of them when I am in Argentina. My mom makes them sometimes and there soo good. Only she adds also some coconut on the sides. I makes it even better!!!luv themreally like your site, especially the 12 days of cookies!xxx Daph

I'm from South America and I have been eating alfajores and dulce de leche all my life, I love them! This is a nice recipe. You should also try chocolate alfajores, and maizena alfajores with grated coconut (like these but rolling the dulce de leche edges over grated coconut, those are traditional to Uruguay and Argentina).

Mmmm....DaviMack sent me over to drool over these since I just had a run in with moonpies. I'd love to try them since the idea of "buttery" with dulce de leche has my complete attention as well. I had to laugh over your images of shrapnel since I've made dulce de leche in an unopened can of condensed milk. No explosion, and quite worthwhile. ;)